Opera Software's CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner explains why they will not release the Opera browser as open source, arguing that open standards are more important than open source. Von Tetzchner also talks about the company's antitrust complaint to the European Commission in which it accuses Microsoft of abusing its dominant position by tying Internet Explorer to Windows.

I think he's right. I use a few closed source apps, because they perform better than the open source equivalents and I felt they where worth the money.

However one thing I make very sure of is that all the apps follow an open standard so that I can get my important data out and replace the app with something else should it become necessary. That is why open standards are more important.

The real question is why should they go open source. What's to gain? Don't answer this question from the perspective of an OSS advocate or end user, answer it from the perspective of an Opera senior manager or shareholder.